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Dixie Hawkins is a highly skilled lab technician in the health-care field for Canadian Blood Services, but she never really got exposure to the business world during her health-care training.

So she was happy to take some business programs through the University of Calgary's Continuing Education department that gave her a new perspective on business and project management.

"It allows me to advance in my profession (and) gives me more of the business perspective that we don't take in health-care courses," says Hawkins, who has taken courses about quality management, for example.

"It is nice to see the real world out there," Hawkins says. "Being in health care in the non-profit world, it's interesting to interact with companies that are forprofit, seeing the different perspectives and what it's like in their workforce."

The courses help provide an outline as to how to effectively run any size of project, including interacting with various departments, having difficult conversations and keeping the project on track.

It's part of a newly revamped project management program being offered by the U of C, launched last fall. Project managers are sought after in almost every industry, according to Mary Boni, who redesigned the project management certificate program.

"Those skills are in high demand," she says. "Project management is applicable to almost any industry.

We're giving them the high-level knowledge they need, as well as the specialized knowledge they need" unique to their particular industry.

The program is 200 hours in length, with 165 hours of core courses plus 35 hours of optional courses and seminars unique to the individual's industry. Students come from all walks of life, including oil and gas, construction, information technology and health care.

Graduates of the program can then go on to write the project management professional exam to become certified through the Project Management Institute.

Jo-Anne Clarke, program director of management certificates at the U of C, says the new program is in direct response to industry needs. It used to offer some project management courses, but as part of a business program.

"The demand is huge," she says.

"A lot of our students are working, but they need those skills and want to apply them immediately," Clarke says.

"They're taking what they learn in the classroom and applying it tomorrow in their lives.

Many of the students are sponsored by their employers to move up in their careers, taking time off work to complete the program, which can be done within one year.

"With the Calgary market becoming hotter and hotter, people want to be able to finish the program as quickly as possible so they can get that promotion, salary increase or make that career move," Boni says.

"Sometimes taking two or three years wouldn't be optimal."

Instructors come from a wide range of industries and sectors to help provide students with a breadth of experiences and perspectives. However, being in Calgary there are usually some engineers in the classes.

There are engineers who are attracted to the program because it's a good build on their existing skill set," Hawkins says.

Consulting firm American Project Management recently held its own crash course in project management in Calgary this week. It provided 36 hours of project management education, including a focus on project initiation, costing, selection, organization, leadership, detailed planning processes, monitoring and risk management.

Project managers are then able to lead and manage any project, from inception to close. They can also help recover troubled projects, review and audit at-risk projects.

They also assist with independent verification and validations, quality assurance and software testing, as well as providing proposal support and acting as "agents of change" for process improvement.

Boni expects the demand to continue for these professionals, particularly in Alberta.

Expect to see more opportunity for career growth in the area of project management in the year ahead.

derek.sankey@telus.net

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